Even if you're a diehard Eminem fan, it's hard for many people to rate his 2009 album Relapse next to some of his best albums. Hell, we currently have the four-times platinum release sitting in the No. 9 spot on our Best Eminem Albums list. With that said, it may surprise you that at one time, Eminem did have a Relapse 2 primed and ready to go. He told Angela Yee as much back in 2009, describing it as being "just rap records."
In 2010, however, Eminem was spitting a different verse. At the time, he tweeted that there was no Relapse 2, saying that as he was working on new material, "the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album," which became Recovery. According to 50 Cent, who recently visited Big Boy's Neighborhood alongside Den of Thieves co-stars O'Shea Jackson and Pablo Schreiber, Em just wasn't into the fan reaction towards Relapse and decided to ditch the entire Relapse 2.
Around 30:54 in the video above, 50 Cent begins talking about how criticism on the projects actually does effect Eminem and what he's working on (which can be on full display with tracks like "Walk on Water"), stating that "being criticized about the music actually affects him."
"We had a whole other album when he did Relapse," 50 continued. "He didn't like the response, so he didn't even put out the whole Relapse 2. So it's like, if he doesn't like the response, he can change it."
That's one thing Em can say: he's afforded the time through the hard work he put in over the last few decades to take some time with his projects, and if he's not keen on the direction, or the reception to his last effort, he has room to make adjustments. Don't let that distort how you speak on Eminem, though. As 50 points out, "the new guys should pay homage to Em. He's a big part of why we grew as fast as we grew."
For more from this interview, which features talk of Den of Thieves and O'Shea Jackson's rising status in Hollywood, check out the video up above.
